VOLTAGE-SENSITIVE DYES FOR MONITORING MULTINEURONAL ACTIVITY IN THE INTACT CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM

Optical monitoring of activity provides new kinds of information about brain function. Two examples are discussed in this article. First, th e spike activity of many individual neurons in small ganglia can be de termined. Second, the spatiotemporal characteristics of coherent activ ity in the brain can be directly measured. This article discusses both general characteristics of optical measurements (sources of noise) as well as more methodological aspects related to voltage-sensitive dye measurements from the nervous system. (C) 1998 Chapman & Hall.